Wow, that was incredible. I was worried that they hadn't built up the knowledge of the Aiel enough to have the Rhuidean episode pay off yet but they smashed it out the park. Beat all expectations of how well they would manage to do it. A lot of Aiel set off initially in lots of groups, each with a cutting of the Tree of Life. I took that to explain why they were moving around in small groups in future generations. The grandfather said they were going to meet others but having that small group and only the two of them stick with it helped to show how hard the path they were on was for me.

I see. I don't know what will happen in the show with the box but I don't think it's worth worrying over the possibility that they "might" do something that doesn't make sense, so far the box is fine. Even if the contents do go up in flames, it feels easy enough to create an explanation for it that it should be a non-issue too. One example would be Siuan being able to tie off some very basic weaves as a secret ability. Many Aes Sedai have something they worked out and haven't shared in the books and Siuan is one of the most powerful Aes Sedai of her time. Another possibility would be that the locking mechanism is such that forcing it open will create a spark, and there could be something in the box that will shoot up in flames if there is a spark. I'm sure you could creatively come up with some other options.

I'm not sure, I haven't given that scene much thought. I could be wrong but doesn't someone, maybe even Siuan, have a box like this in the books that she does something to with the power to keep it safe before tying off weaves is a thing?

Minus 6% from what?

No, it wouldn't have to be. For example, it may just be a complex locking mechanism. She channels to lock it, no physical key could open it and it could be very difficult for another channeller to unlock without knowing the mechanism. I salute your dedication to finding flaws with every scene in the show though.

Only watched it once so far so apologies if I'm remembering incorrectly, but I thought they worked out that Liandrin was going to Tanchico because the sign she made under the bed of her son was a sign that the people of Tanchico make in the place of someone's death and also the place of their birth after they die. So Liandrin making that sign where he died suggests she knows she is going to Tanchico to make the sign where he was born also. Then they are just connecting that it could also make sense that the collar could be there, which would tie in with Liandrin knowing she's going there. A thought process of "Liandrin is going to Tanchico, but why... oh Tanchico is near where the Seanchan landed so it makes sense as a place the collar could be."

I don't necessarily agree with respect to this scene but in general I completely agree with this and it's something you will probably have to turn a bit of a blind eye to if you want to enjoy the show. Like you, I hope that they don't push it too far and would like to see it be consistent, but I don't think it will be if they see an opportunity to film a cool scene that just needs a bit of tweaking to character power to work as they want. On the back and forth, I don't think it would be too productive and it's not relevant to this sneak peek but the key points would be that Moiraine knows the dragonmount prophecy, multiple people see Rand and think he's an Aiel in the book, he has the red hair that is rare outside the Aiel, and yet Moiraine shows no sign of favouring him being the dragon over the other 2 for most of book 1. It should have been immediately clear to her, and sure she could bring the others along "just in case" or you could argue that she could favour him but we don't read through her eyes so we don't find out, but I think it's probably just a mistake due to not having the whole story when starting writing. I remember Egwene running with the Aiel and them gaining respect for her for keeping up but I couldn't give you a page and a quote. Fwiw, I really liked the books for being generally good in terms of keeping the rules of the world consistent and realism within the world, and I also don't like it when the show deviates from that too much. I just think a more balanced view on the book and show would recognise that the books have plenty of flaws in this regard but can be enjoyed immensely despite that, and the show has even more flaws in this regard but again can be enjoyed despite that. It's simply a question of degree and it is fine to draw the line somewhere between the book and show in terms of what you're ok with, but there doesn't seem to be the realisation on your part that this is what you're doing. You argue very much as if everything the show does is totally wrong and a deviation from realism is a disaster that would never have happened in the books, and I don't think that's a fair reflection of reality.

We could go back and forth on this and your next answer but it would be way OT. The point is that you are likely prepared to give the benefit of the doubt and make excuses or find reasons for most unrealistic book stuff, while nitpicking faults with the show that most people may not even find unrealistic at all. There are many flaws with the show but this scene is good TV that is not unreasonable in terms of realism compared to any fantasy/sci-fi/action tv show that I've seen. If there is not a single fantasy/sci-fi/action show/movie in which the level of realism meets your demands then that is unfortunate, it seems these genres are not for you on screen!

You may however remember the fact that Moiraine visited the Two Rivers in book 1 looking for someone born on Dragonmount during the Aiel war and was unable to work out for most of the book that it was probably the guy who looks like an Aielman rather than the 2 guys who look like regular Two Rivers folk. Or you may remember that it is apparently possible for Egwene to keep up running with the Aiel day after day, who are basically all ultra marathon runners trained since birth, with no running training, as long as you are stubborn and determined enough. Or you may wonder why the Queen of Manetheren didn't sacrifice herself to destroy the trolloc army before all of Manetheren's army was destroyed, rather than waiting until afterwards, if it is indeed possible to draw too much of the power and do orders of magnitude more damage than you otherwise could. Etc etc etc. It is a fantasy series and you need to be ok with turning a blind eye to some unrealistic aspects if you are going to enjoy it. You must have done this while reading the books but you are clearly totally unwilling to look past anything with even remotely questionable realism in the show. I imagine that you would have happily read right on past if this scene was written in the book with some accompanying sentences such as "Person X was so shocked that their lifelong friend Person Y was a darkfriend that they didn't even embrace the source, simply staring with unbelieving eyes as Person Y sliced them in half." "Person Y had been preparing for a moment like this for so many years that they had a selection of nasty weaves ready to go, taking out 3 other sitters before they could even react." "As the dust settled, on top of the horror of the situation, Person Z was overwhelmed by a feeling of humiliation that just 5 members of the Black Ajah had been able to deal so comfortably with the rest of the sitters. Had they grown soft over all the years of politicking?" etc. In TV format, you can't have the explanatory sentences surrounding a scene like this that would perhaps allow you to enjoy it when it's in book format, so you need to fill in the explanation yourself. Still though, as others have said, this would have been unbelievably shocking for the other sitters and I'm more than happy to give it the benefit of the doubt that this shock was enough to make up for the numerical disadvantage for the Black Ajah. You could certainly argue either way whether this is the case (and you are!) but it's nowhere near unrealistic enough to ruin the enjoyment of a great action scene for me. Of course, we all have different thresholds for how much disbelief we are prepared to suspend in different situations.

I really enjoyed the sneak peek and very excited for the new season. It's a miracle that you ever enjoyed the books Mailman. I don't think they would hold up too well to the level of scrutiny that you are determined to give the show. Or perhaps the book forum is full of you saying how much you hate the books too, I haven't checked!!

All very good points, think you've changed my mind and it is more likely to refer to Lanfear. That Amazon summary is pretty explicit that they're going down the Lanfear and Rand relationship route pretty hard, and also that it's not going to be so obvious in the show that Lanfear is going to choose evil, making Egwene and Rand's behaviour in that scene fit better. The scene in the final episode of s2 where Elayne heals Rand and he wakes up to see her had me believing that he would fall for Elayne pretty soon but perhaps that goes on the backburner for a while, particularly if they are not in the same places for a while as you suggest.

The look on his face and the tears. It looked to me the emotions of someone saying "I'm so so sorry but I do." I didn't expect that they will continue the Rand actually loving Lanfear theme now that he knows who it is but you and Skipp are right that they might. Seems very plausible now that I think about it, even though it's hard for me to imagine from book Rand. It looks like the same scene but you're right that it might not be. You make some good counterpoints and I'm not as sure as I was before reading them. With such a short clip, it's always possible that with a little more context, the scene would look and feel very different so it could go either way. Time will tell, looking forward to watching and finding out!

In the show, Egwene is devastated because she believes Rand is dead, having been clearly in a relationship with him up to that point. She then finds out he is alive at the end of season 2 and we can probably assume that in season 3 she starts off assuming that they will still be in a relationship. She will have a ton of emotions about the whole situation. To then discover that Rand is in love with her friend would probably be pretty distressing for her. My take on watching the scene is that Egwene will still love Rand early in season 3 and this scene is her discovering that he loves Elayne instead. Also, Rand's reaction seems off if it's Lanfear. Of course, all is possible until we see the episodes, so perhaps your counterpoint turns out to be correct 🙂

Agreed that it will be in reference to Elayne and not Lanfear. The trailer is shot to make you think it refers to Lanfear but I don't think it will be. It doesn't make a lot of sense that Egwene would believe that Rand was genuinely in love with Lanfear and it doesn't feel like the right reaction if she did. Feels like some sort of disgust and/or bafflement would be in her mix of emotions. Also the tears and agony on Rand's face suggest a situation where he does love the person in question and is devastated about upsetting Egwene. If you ignore the sequence of shots in the trailer and just watch the few seconds in isolation, I think Lanfear being the topic is unlikely.